Western Specialty Contractors – Minneapolis Branch breathed new life into a brick wall and its painted mural on the historic DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace Building in Duluth, Minnesota.
Located at 394 S Lake Ave. in the heart of the Canal Park neighborhood, the eight-story commercial building was constructed in 1909 for the DeWitt-Seitz Company, a furniture wholesaler and mattress manufacturer.
The building became the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace in May 1985, a mixed-use commercial building with shops and restaurants on the lower floors and office spaces above. A large mural advertising the marketplace is painted on the building’s north wall.
To commemorate the marketplace’s 40th anniversary in May 2025, Western Specialty Contractors was hired to perform masonry repairs on the building’s brick façade that included brick replacement, repointing, soffit repainting and application of a specialized masonry coating to control brick deterioration on its previously painted north façade. Re-coating of the north façade then necessitated the replication of its iconic mural, last repainted in 2006.
Western’s restoration experts contracted with a professional artist in July 2025 to replicate the mural, which features the name of the building (DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace) in yellow lettering and a diamond-shaped frame surrounding a pair of Lady Slippers, the Minnesota state flower. The building’s entire north side wall behind the mural was coated in forest green.
Western’s experts used the rooftop of an adjacent building to access the brick wall, along with a boom lift from the street, and suspended scaffolding from the building’s roof to complete the masonry repairs and complete the painting.
Crews were able to schedule their work around the busy tourist area, which hosted several events during the construction period. Western was able to complete the project on time in September 2025 and within budget to the satisfaction of the owner. LHB was the engineer/architect for the project and Oneida Commercial Real Estate manages the property for the building’s owner.
